THE number of single homeless people needing accommodation in Blackburn with Darwen is rising, councillors have been told.

Many are from outside the borough, neighbourhoods boss Cllr Shaukat Hussain told colleagues in a report.

He said: “The council has seen a significant rise in the number of single people presenting as homeless.

“Under the new Homelessness Reduction Act 2018 we have a duty to support any single person irrespective of local connection for up to 56 days.

“Given that we have a number of houses in multiple occupation, we are seeing a trend suggesting higher numbers of non-borough people presenting.”

He added: “The overall housing situation in the borough is made more difficult with higher numbers of evictions arising from rent arrears, universal credit and a lack of social housing supply.

“We are due to undertake a six month review of progress under the new legislation and will report back on findings.”